'Chicken Man' Explosion: Did Roswell Kill Andrew Wordes?

A fatal explosion in Roswell, Ga., rocked the home of Andrew Wordes, a colorful local figure in the community, known for his fight to keep chickens on his property and earning him the nickname of chicken man. The blast occured Monday from inside the house where the 53-year-old Wordes was residing, leaving one dead, presumably Wordes, though the body was so charred obtaining positiv confirmation on the body could take days. Police had apporoached the home in order to force Wordes to vacate. Wordes also had called a local television crew to the scene before the blast occured and warned everyone on his property to step back from the house before the detonation, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Marshals informed Wordes he was to be evicted three weeks prior. They arrived at his home around 10:45 a.m. Monday. Despite evidence toward the affirmative, investigators speculate Wordes doused his home in gasoline and set fire to it, rather prefering to stay in the flaming house he had fought for for the last seven years than be evicted. Marshals approached and tried to communicate the eviction but were warned to step back.

Wordes was enraptured in a number of legal problems with the city, from when he moved to the house 335 Alpine Drive in 2005. In 2009 the city cited him for raising livestock without a permit. His house later flooded, he was cited for various ordinance and traffic violations, 30 of his chickens and turkeys mysteriously died, he spent 90 days in jail, and eventually Wordes simply couldn't keep up with the demand of resources his legal problems demanded of him.

A Georgia attorney, Ryan Strickland, tells CBS News he had filed an emergency injunction to halt the eviction. At one point, former governor of Georgia Roy Barnes represented Wordes in court.

Cindy McEntire, a Roswell resident familiar with the situation, told the Atlanta Journal Consitution she blamed much of Wordes' distress on the city.

Andrew gave as good as he received, but there were a lot of citations and traffic stops on him, she told the Atlanta Journal Constitution After the flood, everything went downhill.

The top quote in Wordes' favorite quotes section on his Facebook page says sometimes I think violence is underrated.